Found souls

A year ago a group of people met up and set off from the tearooms on a ramble.
Dave, whose partner had died 14 months earlier, was trying it out on the advice of his sister.
He almost bailed when he first arrived.
But he didn’t and during the journey he fell into easy conversation with Heather.
They walked and talked and got along very well. Dave began to feel very guilty. He shouldn’t feel like he wanted to get to know someone else. But he did. As for Heather, she hadn’t been in a relationship for twenty plus years (she looks to be in her early forties now).
They arrived back at the tearooms and individuals in the group began to order coffee.
As Heather dug into her bag for her money Dave handed over payment for both his and hers.
She said something like, “I’ll buy the next one,” which he took as a good sign.
He didn’t ask for her number though.
He was still feeling that guilt.
By the next ramble Dave was looking forward to seeing Heather again. She didn’t show up. And she wasn’t at the next, nor the next, nor the next.
What Dave hadn’t known was that everyone on that first ramble was new to it, so no one knew Heather or anything much about her, only what they’d gleaned from talking to her that day.
Dave was about to give up rambling.
At the start of the fifth outing there was still no Heather. They all set off and had gone quite a way when a woman Dave had been talking to pointed to a parked car and said she thought it might be Heather’s. As Heather arrived at Dave’s side the other woman stepped back and left them to walk together.
They have been inseparable ever since.
Yesterday was the first anniversary of their first meeting. They ordered coffee and sat in the garden. Heather paid. “It’s my turn,” she laughed.

They look so happy.